Lost And Found
by StarsTilDawn
Summary: After the war Hermione and Draco have both lost everything, and are on the verge of giving up on life. But can a chance encounter in a supermarket put them back on the right path? [I guess this is AU after Deathly Hallows]


It was lunchtime again, Hermione noticed with a dull sense of nothing in particular. Lunchtime meant eating, so she wandered through to the kitchen to see what was in the fridge. Since the war had ended she'd drifted aimlessly through life. Everyone she cared about had died, and with them her sense of purpose. She knew she should get some NEWTs, or a degree, maybe even a job, but never did. She just didn't see the point in life.

There was nothing in the house. The bread bin, and so was the fridge. All she could find in the cupboards was the crockery her family had once used, and a tin of coconut milk, which she was allergic to. Oh well, she thought, maybe I'll skip lunch today.

Draco Malfoy felt his life was equally pointless. He worked in a muggle carpet shop, for Merlin's sake, trying to sell discount carpets to idiots. Getting a really menial muggle job had seemed like a good idea when he was on the run, pursued by death eaters (probably including his own father), but now he couldn't help wondering if he'd be better off dead. Maybe that was why he was still alive.

"Hmm… I don't know if it would go with the drapes," his current customer was deliberating.

"Madam, a beautiful carpet like this goes with anything." Draco said. The carpet was hideously pink with an equally horrible blue pattern, but he really needed the commission.

"Well, they're red, you see. With little green flowers."

"The carpet should set them off nicely, then. Pink, red and green are a classic combination." Draco wheedled. "And, it has an antibacterial finish!"

She stared at it a bit longer. "No, I think I'll sleep on it." Damn, Draco thought.

After finishing his shift, he headed to the supermarket to buy food and alcohol. He desperately needed a drink.

Hermione was starving. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. There was no avoiding it: she'd have to go to the supermarket. After finding some money (she was still living off what she'd inherited from her parents), she left the house for the first time that week.

When she got there she bought ham and margarine, which were on special offer, and then headed for the bread aisle. It took her a minute to choose, because all the choices seemed so stupid. Why exactly would she care if her bread was thick-sliced, thin-sliced or "Sandwich"? In the end she just grabbed the cheapest brown loaf, and turned around to find a skinny, dark haired man staring at her.

Draco was stunned; overjoyed to see anyone from the magical world. Yes, he'd once called her a mudblood, but the word had long since lost its meaning for him.After all, at least she'd never worked in a carpet shop. She grabbed a loaf and turned to around.

"Hermione Granger!"

"Do I know you?" She asked, hostility glinting in her dead eyes. She'd lost weight, and it didn't suit her at all.

"We went to school together!"

"I highly doubt it." She turned away and started to walk towards the checkout, but Draco grabbed her arm. Suddenly, he remembered the glamour he'd put on, before he snapped his wand in half. After three years it had almost become part of him, and he didn't think he could remove it if he tried.

"I was blond then. Grey eyes. Kind of ferrety."

"Zacharias Smith?" Hermione said, completely disinterested. "We hated each other."

"The _Hufflepuff_?" Draco found a trace of his old arrogance returning. "No! Draco Malfoy." It was obviously stupid to say his real name in a crowded place, but he wasn't thinking about that. He just wanted to keep her there, his only link with the magical world.

"He's dead." Hermione said. "And anyway, he hated me even more then Smith."

"He- I was a jerk. And you don't expect the Dark L- Vol- You-Know-Who to admit I got away, do you?"

"I suppose it would kind of destroy his power base. Now can I buy my bread in peace?"

"Don't go!"

"Malfoy, I have better things to do with my time."

"Please! I know I was a jerk, I did some really stupid things back then, but please give me a chance." He looked at her, feeling tears well up in his eyes. "I don't even know if my family are alive. At least let me buy you coffee or something."

She looked at him searchingly. "All right then. It's not like I've got anything left to lose."

"Thank you."

When they had sat down with coffee in the supermarket's café, Draco asked: "So how's the magical world?"

"A mess." She answered shortly.

"Because of the Dar- Vol-"

Hermione interrupted him. "Voldemort's dead. Is that all you wanted to know? If you can come out of hiding yet?"

Draco hardly dared ask the next question. "H-how are my family?"

For the first time, the anger left her face. Draco's heart sunk. "You're father's in prison. And you're mother is- dead. So's your aunt."

"Oh." Draco had expected as much, but he still had to struggle not to cry. "And Pansy?"

"Married Crabbe. But Goyle is dead."

Draco blinked rapidly, and then took a large gulp of his still-to-hot coffee, enjoying the pain. "Oh." He said again, stupidly.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said.

"It's OK, I suppose I'll live."

"Yeah, I guess we're both survivors." She said bitterly.

"What about your friends?" Draco asked.

"Harry, Ron, Luna and Ginny are dead. So're my parents. They never found enough of Neville to be certain what happened, but it's not exactly difficult to guess."

"That's awful."

"Really? I thought you approved. Isn't that why you killed Dumbledore?"

"I didn't! I never wanted to be a part of it- that's why I ran away."  
"Really? Or where you scared?"

"Wasn't everyone?"

"Yeah, but most of us didn't feel the need to attempt murder because of it!"

"So what was I supposed to do? You don't understand what it was like, how much pressure I was under!"

"You sound even more like a whiny brat than before."

"Anyway, I bet you killed someone." He wanted to hit her. Didn't she see what his life was like now? How the tedium, the exhaustion, the pointlessness was killing him more slowly and painfully than any curse of Voldemort's? "What was it like? I bet you even enjoyed it, didn't you?"

"I did what I had to do!" Now she was the one on the verge of tears. Draco suddenly found he cared about her feelings, something he'd never imagined possible.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Me too. I'm not really angry at you, just at the way everything turned out. It wasn't anything like the movies."

They were silent for a few minutes. "Is Hogwarts still open?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I think I should go back, finish my NEWTs, but I don't see the point anymore."

"You didn't finish your NEWTs? Why not?"

"Well, defeating Voldemort got in the way a bit." she said sarcastically.

Draco felt an unfamiliar feeling welling up inside him- it was hope. "We could go back together!"

"No."

"But you were so smart! And you loved school!"

"It's not going to happen, Malfoy."

"Hermione, Harry wouldn't want you to waste your life like this. Or Ron. Isn't that what you were fighting for?"

Hermione stared into her coffee, lost in thought. She seemed to be remembering something. Finally she lifted her head and looked him in the eye. "Alright then. I'll go."


End file.
